Ashes
by Hayles45
Summary: Challenge from Jazzola: On a Camping Trip with her boyfriend, Daphne realises that something as ordinary as ashes can be just as important to love as roses or hearts. Please R&R! Challenge word was 'Ashes'. Make sure to read Jazzola's one too!


**Alrighty then! Wait... did I just say 'Alrighty then'? Oh dear... anyway, here's the deal! Me and my good friend Jazzola (who is awesome) have decided to do something fun! We gave each other challenge words to write a Fraphne one-shot, and here's mine! Jazzola gave me the rather hard word 'Ashes', whilst I gave her 'Velvet'. After you've read mine, **_**please**_** go read hers. I'm writing this before she's put hers up, but it'll be up soon! Once it is, make sure you check it out and tell her what you think of it! Thanks you guys, here have this chocolate bar... no take it... fine, if you don't want it then I'll eat it... hey! You can't steal it from me... COME BACK HERE! ;)**

* * *

Daphne Blake shifted in her sleeping bag. _Damn birds_, she thought, _Why do they have to sing now?_ Sitting up, she yawned and stretched, only for her hands to hit the roof of the tent she was sleeping in. Groaning, she remembered where she was.

Fred, her boyfriend, had decided that they would go on a camping trip together. Which was fine, except Daphne _hated_ camping. Ever since that awful experience when she was eleven, where the heavens had opened over the camping site and when she had woken in the morning, the entire floor of her tent was covered in muddy, horrible water. Her mother had gone into a frenzy, telling the camp owner that she would sue him for every cent he owned. But that was her mother, suing someone because of the weather. She didn't want to be like her mother.

So Daphne had agreed, mostly because she wanted a break from the hustle and bustle of the city. Because of her job, she hardly ever got to see Fred, which was a shame, because she _really_ did love him. He was the Prince Charming that every girl dreamed of. And he was hers.

Thinking about her boyfriend, she turned to where he _should've_ been sleeping. But to her surprise, instead of his welcoming arms, there was an empty sleeping bag. She raised an eyebrow, turning to the door of the tent. It had been left slightly open, and Daphne quietly peered through the gap. To her relief, Fred was just outside, sitting beside the burnt out campfire they had had dinner beside the previous night. She was about to unzip the tent fully and walk out to join him, but he suddenly knelt down beside the mix of burnt wood and gray ashes, a thoughtful look on his handsome face.

He began to pick up each piece of charred wood individually, placing them in a neat pile to his right. Daphne thought this was cute, but what he did next surprised her. Slowly, he began to scoop the ashes into a pile with his hands, with such care and love in his face. Daphne would've used the expression 'like he was handling a bomb', to describe how gentle he was being; but she realised that his face would not be so calm if he was handling an actual bomb.

As she watched him, she saw that he was writing something in the ashes. She couldn't tell what from the angle she was watching from, so she could only imagine what he had put. Fred smiled, happy with his work, and brushed off his hands. Clouds of grey dust rose for a few seconds, and then began to fall back to earth. He then stood up, giving the ashes one last glance before turning towards the tent.

Daphne didn't want him to know she had been watching him; as quick as a flash she managed to get back into her sleeping bag, a trick she had perfected when she had been watching TV in her room after bedtime when she was a child. She would hear one of her parents coming, so she would turn off the TV and practically throw herself back into her bed and pretend to be asleep, just as her mother or father walked in to check on her.

So the same instinct kicked in now, she slipped back into the sleeping bag and shut her eyes, putting on her 'sleep' face, just as Fred zipped open the tent and clambered in beside her. She smiled as he wrapped his strong arms around her waist, and she then 'woke up'. She faked a yawn, turning over to face him.

"Good morning," he said lovingly, kissing her softly. She smiled,

"Good morning, Freddie," she replied sleepily, and he gently pushed a few stray locks of red hair from her face,

"Did you sleep ok?" he asked, his eyes full of concern, and she nodded, snuggling into his warmth.

"Yeah, well... as good as sleeping gets in a tent," she replied, and he chuckled. She sniffed the air, and then looked at him seriously, "You smell like an ashtray!" she couldn't resist. For a moment his features became suspicious, but shortly returned to kind.

"I just went out to clear some of the ash from the fire; it'll be hard to get it going if there's too much of it!" he explained, and she grinned, pulling him towards her for another kiss. What started as a kiss became much more, and about half an hour later, Daphne stepped out of the tent and into the sunlight.

* * *

She smiled, enjoying the feeling of fresh air all around her. Instead of going to a camping site, Fred had insisted on camping in a beautiful National Park, where they could be alone together with no interruptions. Which was good, since they needed to spend some quality time with each other after having to work for so long in the city; they _both_ needed this.

Walking over to the log that Fred had made into a seat, she sat down and looked down at the campfire. After their recent... _activity_, she had forgotten almost completely about the ashes Fred had been doing something to earlier. Now, as she looked down at what he had put, she felt tears coming. Happy tears. Below her on the ground, Fred Jones had written in amongst the ashes,

'I love you Daphne'

And that was when she knew that she would love him for as long as she lived.

* * *

**Did I do good, Jazzola? :D**


End file.
